2010- My Year In Running

I abandoned my plan to race a 1500m indoors today in favour of some training to make up for the 4 days I missed last week with knee problems. That decision meant I have now run my last race of 2010. Having some time on my hands for a change, I sat down to reflect on the year and worked out some statistics.

I ran 37 races in 2010, winning 5, placing 2nd in 3 and 3rd in another 4. In 23 of those races, I set either a new personal or course best. I earned my highest places in the Scottish 4km Cross Country at Bellahouston Park, Glasgow (11th from 103 runners) and Scottish National Cross Country at Falkirk (30th from 447 runners).

Above: Scottish 4km Cross Country, January 2010, photo courtesy of my Dad. Cambuslang member Jamie Reid, injured at the time, is in the background wearing the blue coat.

Through training and racing, I have become acquainted with far more athletes of all standards than I was this time last year. I've even been asked for and given training advice to one or two athletes, hopefully with positive results for them. Accolade wise, I ran a 1500m for the West Coast team at the Scottish Indoor Inter Regional Championship. I also earned selection for the West of Scotland team at the Edinburgh International Cross Country on 8th January 2011 though for reasons I may elaborate on in a future post, I turned the offer down.

Overall, this has easily been my most consistent year in terms of training and race performances. I have high hopes for 2011, health and fitness permitting. There isn't too long to wait to get the 2011 race schedule underway. I'm off to Kilbirnie on Sunday 2nd January to run the Beith Harriers New Year Road Race. Watch this space for the outcome.

Above: City of Stirling 10km Road Race, September 2010. Probably my very best race all year, finishing 7th in a huge personal best of 31:12. Photo courtesy of Mark Williams.

2010 Statistics

Races- 37, constituted thus:-

Road- 14

Track- 18

Cross Country- 5

Clubs Represented:-

Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers- 26

Whitemoss- 10

West Coast- 1 (Scottish Indoor Inter Regional Championships)

Personal or Course Bests Set- 23

Championship Results:-

Scottish Indoor Inter Regional Championships- 1500m, 4:07.55, 4th place

Scottish 4km Cross Country Championships- 12:04, 11th place, team bronze medal

Scottish National Cross Country Championships (12km)- 40:59, 30th place, 4th placed team

Scottish National 6 Stage Road Relay Championships- short stage (3.15 miles), 16:02, 5th placed team

Scottish Senior Track and Field Championships- 5000m, 15:20.38, 12th from 18 runners

Scottish 10km Road Race Championships (Stirling 10k above)- 31:12, 7th place, team silver medal

Scottish West District Cross Country Relay Championships (4km)- 13:56, 4th placed team

Scottish National Cross Country Relay Championships (4km)- 13:18, 7th placed team

Longest Race- 13.1 miles, Chris Moon Half Marathon, Strathaven, June 2010 (1st in 1:13:33)

Shortest Race- 100m on one occasion for Cambuslang and once for Whitemoss, fastest time of 13.2 seconds (personal best is 12.5 seconds set in 1999).

Worst Race- West District Cross Country Relay. The team achieved a good placing but I didn't run well at all. Whatever it was- the course, running last leg, a stressful week at work- it never happened for me.

Best Race- Stirling for definite. Others come close such as the National Cross Country Relay. I'd also mention the Irvine 10k in August. While not a personal best, I was tired after a stressful working day and worked hard to win it against some good opposition from clubmate Chris Wilson and one or two others.

Most Enjoyable Race- both races organised by Strathaven Striders (Chris Moon Half Marathon and Run With The Wind 10k) were friendly affairs. The Penicuik Harriers 10k is a tough race but organised by very welcoming people. It had everything I look for- run on a Saturday afternoon, scenic location and plenty post-race grub. The Round Cumbrae Road Race at Millport is a splendid day out. Enough said. It's on my radar for 2011 already.

Above: Penicuik 10k early stages. I eventually finished 3rd in a then personal best of 33:22. The winner was Ross Houston (yellow vest) followed by David Simpson (white vest). Clubmate Charlie Thomson is a former winner of the race. Photo courtesy of http://www.roadrunpics.com/.

Ronhill Cambuslang Harriers Down By The River Races, 27th December 2010

After the recent freezing spell, it was a relief to finally have a race to do. On Sunday 7th November, I ran my 36th race of 2010 when winning the Strathaven Striders Run With The Wind 10k. Little did I know it would be another 50 days before I did my 37th. I devoted the rest of November to intense training for the West District Cross Country Championships on 4th December. It was postponed until 16th January. With no alternatives lined up, and any likely ones being snowed off, I had no option but to keep training in the thick snow, ice and sub zero temperatures.

My usual weekly average mileage hovers around 45. In an attempt to make more progress, I agreed with the club coaches to find ways to up this a little. For 6 weeks after Strathaven, my mileages were 54, 57, 51, 44, 56 and 53. The wheels came off big style in the 7th week (week commencing Monday 20th December leading up to Christmas) with niggling pain in my right knee. More about this to come in a future post but suffice to say it saw me rack up 25 miles for the week with 3 days of running. Merry Christmas to me!

It was against this background that I approached Cambuslang's race with less confidence and more self doubt than normal. I knew the road option had been abandoned in favour of cross country so had packed my spikes. I stuck to my old ones, keeping the new pair I got for Christmas in the box until a later date. On arriving I met clubmate Kirsty Grant who surprised me with a Christmas present in exchange for the card and gift I gave for her birthday earlier this month. I also engaged in some conversation with Kilmarnock Harrier Ian Goudie, running his 65th race of the year. Nutter! I then headed out to the course to test my knee which pleasingly held up well.

Due to numbers (26 for the 5 lap race of approximately 7km and 11 in the 2 lap 3km), both races started together. A leading group quickly formed of myself and clubmates John MacNamara and Iain Reid. A sterling effort had been made to lay out and steward the course. Despite this, navigation proved my problem. Anyone who has ever taken a lift from me will know my sense of direction isn't the best. But for John shouting out the turning points, I would have gone off course several times. It was very kind of him considering that he was racing me at the time.

By the 3rd lap, I had got the hang of it. I had tried to replicate some of my interval training by injecting some fast surges to burn off John and Iain. It worked to an extent. Iain dropped off slightly but was still a clear 3rd while John stayed on my tail. John had been at our club curry night on 22nd December, the night my knee problems really started. He had clearly been training since he looked in good physical condition. I was running strongly but he was still there and the doubts were in my mind. Keeping them out my head took a lot of doing. I surged again during the 4th lap but he stayed with me. "Try again" I thought as we neared the end of the lap. After another surge, lasting around 100m, I couldn't hear him. I had got a gap though didn't take this for granted and dared not look behind.

I negotiated the last lap with every last bit of energy remaining. Up each hill and round each bend, I ran on the assumption there was a pack waiting to pounce. I found a sprint in the final straight to finish in a time of 21:22 for the course which I later discovered was just over 4 miles. John came through in 21:31 and Iain in 21:57. While perhaps more of a low key race, a good performance was hugely important to me given my injury filled build up. It's probably my most satisfying result all year.

Cambuslang were well represented throughout the age groups. Regular training partner Frank Hurley was 6th overall and second over 50 in 24:19 and Thomas McPake was first over 60 in 27:35. Another club over 60, Terence Dolan, finished in 32:23. For the women, recently turned under 20 Mairi Brown tested herself over the longer distance, staying competitive to finish in 30:19. Kirsty ran as strongly as I've seen for several weeks, having a race long battle with Motherwell's Clare Barr, losing out by only 2 seconds in 28:48. She was rewarded with a prize at the prize giving.

Having warmed down, showered then devoured a bridie and a cup of tea, I received my reward for a second consecutive race win, £60 worth of vouchers for Achilles Heel in Glasgow. With the number of vouchers I've been awarded at races, I'm gradually getting kitted out in the best of running gear without having to spend very much money on it. Myself, John and Iain secured the team prize for Cambuslang for which I received a club sweatshirt. The aforementioned Ian Goudie walked away with a bottle of wine for his 3km efforts. Fully fed and much happier than I was on arriving, I headed to the sales at East Kilbride Town Centre to spend my work Christmas bonus.

Many thanks go to everyone from Cambuslang who did so much to ensure we had a race at a time when so many have fallen by the wayside. The longer race results are below. The 3km results can be found on the club website.

Name	Club	Cat	Group	Time	Pos.
Stuart Gibson	RHC	M	MSnr	21:22	1	1st Male
Johnny MacNamara	RHC	M	MSnr	21:31	2	2nd Male
Iain Reid	RHC	M	MSnr	21:57	3	3rd Male
Paul Thompson	Helensburgh	M	MV50	23:39	4	1st M50
Denis Williams	Shettleston	M	MV40	23:41	5	1st M40
Frank Hurley	RHC	M	MV50	24:19	6
Maarten Van Der Hoeven	Highgate Harriers	M	MSnr	24:27	7
Andy Buchanan	U/A	M	MSnr	25:10	8
Claire McCracken	U/A	F	FV35	26:01	9	1st Female
Tom Ord	Victoria Park	M	MV50	27:18	10
Michelle Hetherington	Helensburgh	F	FV45	27:22	11	2nd Female
Tam McPake	RHC	M	MV60	27:35	12	1st V60
Clare Barr	Motherwell AC	F	FV35	28:46	13	3rd Female
Kirsty Grant	RHC	F	FSnr	28:48	14
Maureen McVey	Giffnock North	F	FV45	29:46	15	1st F45
Mairi Brown	RHC	F	FJnr	30:19	16	1st Jnr Female
Dave Bartos	U/A	M	MV40	30:29	17
Julie Fitzpatrick	Bellahouston RR	F	FV35	31:11	18
Clare Blue	Virgin Active Runners	F	FSnr	31:23	19
Tom Keenan	Bellahouston Harriers	M	MV50	31:33	20
Jan Fellowes	Helensburgh	F	FV55	31:48	21	1st F55
Terence Dolan	RHC	M	MV60	32:23	22
John McGlynn	U/A	M	MV50	33:10	23
Clare Larravide	Motherwell AC	F	FV35	34:54	24
Anne Coles	Minehead Running Club	F	FV55	34:59	25
David J Hay	Bellahouston Harriers	M	MV50	36:17	26

Queen's Park v Elgin City- The Only Show In Town

The title of this post is far from an exaggeration. Burst pipes at Ibrox put paid to Rangers v St Mirren and a failed 7.45am pitch inspection saw Hamilton v Celtic bite the dust. The Queen's Park v Elgin City match at Hampden was the only football match in Glasgow on Saturday 18th December and one of only 5 games to go ahead in Scotland. We were literally the only show in town.

It was surprising then to find a rather subdued Social Club as I enjoyed a pre-match pint with my Dad. It looked as if very few neutrals had taken up the opportunity to attend a game. It was a rather surreal set up at Hampden as our usual seats were cordoned off due to safety concerns with the stairways, forcing the supporters to sit further away from the pitch. I grabbed the chance to take one of the posh leather seats. The crowd of 452 which shivered in temperatures of -4 degrees celcius comprised diehards and Christmas shopping dodgers, one in the same thing really. Among that number I counted 27 Elgin supporters. Fair play to everyone who came down the A9 to support their team at this time of year in these weather conditions.

Above: preparing to kick off.

Queen's had not played since a lame 1-0 defeat to Albion Rovers on 13th November, 6 days after the last time I raced. Whether it was absence having made the heart grow fonder or a genuine improvement, I thought Queen's were playing pretty well. Elgin were first to threaten, forcing home keeper Adam Strain into a fine diving save. The Spiders hit back, in particular, with a header from David Anderson bringing the best out of Elgin goalie Peter Donnelly, resplendent with tights under his shorts, at his left hand post. The game ebbed and flowed well enough and both teams chittered their way to half time with no goals.

The second half began with Queen's on the offensive. As has happened so often, we were not making it count, leaving the familiar fear of falling behind.

Above: Queen's putting pressure on Elgin (blue shirts)

Just after the hour though, we conjured up a goal. Ian Watt played a cross into the box. It found its way to Martin McBride whose header brought an excellent save from Donnelly. Tony Quinn got on the end of the rebound. Donnelly could only palm his effort into the roof of the net. 1-0 to the Spiders.

Queen's reacted in the way they often do- retreating into their defensive shell. Manager Gardner Speirs actually showed some positivity, lining up striker Craig Smith to come on. Before he could, Craig Frizzell played a cross into our box. Elgin striker Jason Crooks met it very well with his head. Strain's outstretched hand helped the ball into the top left hand corner. 1-1, something for the two dozen or so Elgin fans to cheer and the lead lost after barely 5 minutes. Smith then replaced Paul Harkins. Too late was the cry.

Both teams to their credit still went at it. In the last 10 minutes, Speirs brought on two more strikers, David Murray and Michael Daly, for Ian Watt and Tony Quinn and went from one up front to three. A bold move for a normally conservative manager. However, it was Elgin who continued to give us the jitters, forcing two corners as the 90 minutes came and gone. We managed to clear the second one and had enough time to break away to force one of our own. The pressure came to nothing and the final whistle signalled a stalemate.

It was a fair enough result for me and one I would have taken beforehand against a team on a decent run of form. 2010 has not been a vintage year for Queen's Park. We reached the promotion playoffs at the end of season 2009/10 before being thumped 6-2 over two games by Arbroath. This season has been a write off. Second bottom of the Third Division with 11 points from 14 games at the time of writing and turfed out the Scottish Cup by junior side Bo'ness United. Here's hoping 2011 brings better things.

We certainly have a DJ with a sense of humour who played "Driving Home for Christmas" as we exited Hampden. Provided all associated with Elgin hit the road within half an hour of the final whistle, they may make it in time.

Teams

Queen's Park- Strain, McGinn, Meggatt, Little, Gallacher, Capuano, McBride, Anderson, Watt, Quinn, Harkins. Subs -Sinclair, Smith, Daly, Murray, McPherson (GK)

Elgin City- Donnelly, Dempsie, Inglis, Kaczan, Niven, Crooks, Duff, O'Donoghue, Cameron, Nicolson, Frizzell.Subs - Millar, Wilson, Edwards, McDonald, Calder (GK)

Training, Week Commencing Monday 13th December

Monday: Track, 800m, 600m, 800m, 600m, 800m, 600m, 800m, 60m, 400m. 800m times- 2:26-2:31, 600m times- 1:46-1:48, 400m time- 69 seconds. 9 miles approx total including warm up and warm down.

Tuesday: tempo run, 8 miles (44:21), 5 minute jog warm down.

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 8 hill reps at High Point, East Kilbride, hard up the hill and hard off the top, easy jog on the flat at end of each lap. 5-5.5 miles including warm up and warm down.

Friday: 6.5 miles easy (40 minutes approx)

Saturday: Glasgow Endurance Session, Rouken Glen Park. 15 minutes tempo (2 minutes recovery), 10 x 1 minute with 1 minute recoveries (2 minutes recovery), 10 minutes tempo, 9-9.5 miles total including warm up and warm down.

Sunday: Longer run, 15 miles (1:40:40)- 20 minutes easy then intervals, 5 mins, 1 min, 2 mins, 4 mins, 5 mins, 1 min, 2 mins, 4 mins with 5 minute jogs between each. After last interval, jogged the remainder of the run.

Mileage- 53

This was another excellent week. The snow had cleared enough for a club track session on Monday with Stewart Orr, Jack Hamilton, Alistair Campbell and Stuart Roe. It was also a good chance to catch up with the coaches to discuss progress and targets. I gave myself the day off on Wednesday for my work Christmas lunch and moved my tempo run to Tuesday. I was 5 minutes quicker on the same route as the previous week in the absence of snow. The snow was back by Thursday. I felt very strong during my hill session.

I came to grief with the weather for the first time on Friday, bruising my left knee when I slipped on black ice less than 2 minute into my run. I carried on but forgot to start my watch for another 10 minutes which explains the approximate time. Saturday's session in the snow was excellent.

Today's run was based on a session lifted from Charlie Spedding's book "From Last to First." Spedding won a bronze medal in the 1984 Olympic marathon. He is the last British man to date to win an Olympic medal in the event. He used to do an interval session on a 21 mile run which he said helped him race a marathon rather than simply running it. My intervals and recovery between them are the same as his. The differences are I'm running slower and for a shorter distance. I experimented with the session on a shorter run in the summer and enjoyed it. I've done interval sessions based on Spedding's a few times since, feeling great benefit.

My weekly mileages since the Strathaven 10k on 7th November are 54, 57, 51, 44, 56 and 53. I didn't think I'd still be waiting to race again. I'm absoloutely desparate to now. If only this weather would clear.



Training, Week Commencing Monday 6th December

Monday: Intervals, 1 min, 1 min, 2 mins, 2 mins, 3 mins, 3 mins, 2 mins, 2 mins, 1 min, 1 min, 1 minute recoveries after each interval. 6.75-7 miles total including warm up and warm down.

Tuesday: 7 miles easy (47:10)

Wednesday: tempo run, 8 miles (49:49), 5 minute jog warm down.

Thursday: 8 hill reps at High Point, East Kilbride, hard up the hill, striding out remainder of the lap. 5-5.5 miles including warm up and warm down.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Longer run, 15 miles (1:45:21)- 3 miles high tempo (16:24), 6 miles approx easy (7:10/mile pace approx), 3 miles high tempo (17:52), easy jog remainder.

Sunday: 12 miles very easy (1:40:05), 8:20/mile pace

Mileage- 56

The bare statistics do not begin to tell the whole story of the week. The UK was hit with a snow avalanche and freezing temperatures. Monday saw just about the entire country come to a standstill with people stranded for the night in workplaces, schools and even their vehicles on motorways. I was incredibly fortunate to leave work at 1pm, be home by 2.15pm and out my interval session at Langlands Industrial Estate, East Kilbride by 3pm. I count myself lucky beyond belief.

Tuesday was an easy run up to Langlands and Kelvin Industrial Estates, a circuit around there then home again. It was -8 degrees celcius that night. I felt very chilly in shorts. I admitted defeat for the tempo run on Wednesday and wore tracksters. The hard packed snow made easy running treacherous and hard running nigh impossible. Putting in twice the effort to run half as fast was quite a strain. There were so few cars on he road, I was running in the middle of main roads a lot this week. East Kilbride was an eery ghost town.

On Thursday, I only ran hard up the High Point hill because it was too dangerous to do so for the full loop. I wanted to bump my miles up again to 50+ for the 4th time in 5 weeks so gave myself a hard 15 miler on Saturday followed by an easier run with Kirsty in Cambuslang on Sunday which was strangely over 2.5 minutes faster over a slightly longer distance than the week before. Amazing the difference less snow makes. There had been a gradual thaw from Friday onwards.

I now know the West District Cross Country is on Sunday 16th January. Hopefully the club 10k on 27th December will go ahead. I also intend to race a 1500m indoors on 30th December for a bit of sharpness. I'm off work from Christmas Eve until 4th January so I might as well.

Training, Week Commencing Monday 29th November

Thank you to Jim Orr for the two photographs from the club Saturday session.

Scenes like the one above, taken from my parents' bedroom window, have been commonplace for much of the UK for the last week at the time of writing. Heavy snowfall has seen widespread disruption to public transport, school closures and caused general inconvenience to people trying to live their daily lives. It never fails to amaze how we continually come to a standstill with a bit of bad weather.

Another thing hampered, as you will see, are sporting fixtures. I went into this week winding down for the West District Cross Country Championships. Since my Glasgow University-Strathaven race double header on 6th and 7th November, I have focussed primarily on training. I upped my weekly mileage of 45-50 to 54, 57 and 51 miles in consecutive weeks comprising a diet of track sessions, tempo runs, long runs, interval sessions and easy runs. I continued on the basis I had a race to prepare for even as the week began with heavy snow.

Monday: 6 mile run- 10 minutes easy then 10 x 1 minute, 1 minute jog recoveries, easy jog of remainder after intervals, total time = 38:34.

Tuesday: 7-7.5 miles easy (48:15), mainly 6:30-6:40/mile pace.

Wednesday: 5 miles high tempo (30:04), 6 minute jog warm down.

Thursday: Intervals- 1 minute, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute, 1 minute, jog recovery same as the interval, e.g. 1 minute jog after each 1 minute interval, 6 miles total including warm up and warm down.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Club session, 8 x 3 minutes, 1 minute recoveries, 7-7.5 miles total including warm up and warm down.

Above: club session at the Showground in East Kilbride on Saturday. I am at the front, (first left, white top).

Sunday: 11.8 miles very easy (1:42:42), 8:42/mile pace.

Mileage- 44

You will deduce from the above that no race took place. By Thursday afternoon, I knew that both the East and West District Championships were off. Every Scottish football match at all levels, apart from Alloa v Peterhead in Scottish Division Two, were also cancelled. I will not go into detail. Suffice to say, I disagree with the cancellation. We await the new date.

Monday's run was in place of a track session. Tuesday included three laps of Peel Park Industrial Estate in East Kilbride and was roughly equivalent of what I would have done at the club. Wednesday's run was completed in temperatures of -6 degrees celcius and thick snow, hence, my time being almost 3 minutes outside my best in training. The effort was there. Even though I had no race, I did my originally planned session for Thursday at East Kilbride's Kelvin Industrial Estate. I found it bitterly cold this time, -8 degrees celcius with a horrible wind chill which saw my fingers go numb despite wearing gloves. According to a BBC weather report, Greenland was warmer than the UK, sizzling in temperatures of 2 degrees celcius.

On Saturday, we did a session in East Kilbride in thick snow (group photo below). I was very jaded after this and needed a lie down for an hour before my dinner. My legs were heavy so I joined clubmate Kirsty for a Sunday run in Cambuslang. I inadvertently cut 0.2 miles off the route by exiting the Clydeside cycle path early. No complaints were received however. Kirsty had gone along for her first attempt at the Glasgow Parkrun 5k the day before only to have to negotiate a 3 lap cross country with the usual course icy. Such were the underfoot conditions on our route, much of our run had to be done in single file within the small patches of runnable ground available. Finishing was a good feeling.

My next target is the Cambuslang Down By The River 10k on 27th December. I'll be upping the mileage again with that in mind.